Friendship continues between club members

SHUFFLEBOARD CLUB

Jane Fonda once said, “Women’s friendships are like a renewable source of power.” That quotation aptly applies to Shuffleboard Club members Sandy Derouin, Karen Mendon and Zoe Pickell. Teachers all, they have known one another for 55 years, spending time together golfing, traveling and embarking on other athletic endeavors.

They first got to know one another through their professional careers. Derouin was a history teacher in Watts and later a school counselor at Carson High School. Mendon and Pickell were both physical education teachers. While Mendon stayed in that world for 35 years in the LA Unified School District and Montebello, she went on to teach coaching strategies at the college level at Cal State Los Angeles, and Pickell later became a school counselor too.

During all of that time, and more recently as neighbors in Leisure World, they have taken innumerable golfing trips together to Palm Springs, Tahoe, Oregon, the central California coast, Nevada and Florida among others. They have traveled to the Galápagos Islands where they snorkeled, hiked and kayaked. Ski trips to Mammoth and Sequoia are also on the list of adventures they have undertaken, as well as many water ski trips to Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville.

Derouin and Pickell moved to Leisure World 12 years ago and kept telling Mendon how wonderful it was. Mendon had some family obligations that kept her away but in 2020, in the midst of COVID, she made her move here and never looked back. These three “renewable sources of power” continue to enjoy one another’s company through sports focused activities that still include golf and, thanks to the Shuffleboard Club, that sport as well.

The club congratulates them on their long-standing association and the deep friendship that has developed and matured over the years.

—Barbara Gardner